Great Vowel Shift.doc

Great Vowel ShiftTheGreat Vowel Shiftwas a major change in thepronunciationof theEnglish languagethat took place inSouthern Englandbetween 1450 and 1750.1The Great Vowel Shift was first studied byOtto Jespersen(18601943), aDanishlinguistandAnglicist, who coined the term.EffectThe values of the long vowels form the main difference between the pronunciation ofMiddle EnglishandModern English, and the Great Vowel Shift is one of the historical events marking the separation of Middle and Modern English. Previous to the Great Vowel Shift, these vowels had continental values much like those remaining inItalianandliturgical Latin. However, during the Great Vowel Shift, the two highest long vowels becamediphthongs, and the other five underwent an increase intongue heightwith one of them coming to the front.The principal changes (with the vowels shown inIPA) are roughly as follows.3However, exceptions occur, the transitions were not always complete, and there were sometimes accompanying changes inorthography: Middle Englisha() fronted toand then raised to,eand in many dialects diphthongised inModern Englishtoe(as inmake). SinceOld Englishhad mutated toin Middle English, Old Englishdoes not correspond to the Modern English diphthonge, but was rather formed from the lengthening of shortain open syllables. Middle Englishraised toeand then to modern Englishi(as inbeak). Middle Englisheraised to Modern Englishi(as infeet). Middle Englishidiphthongised toi, which was most likely followed byand finally Modern Englisha(as inmice). Middle Englishraised too, and in the eighteenth century this became Modern Englishoor(as inboat). Middle Englishoraised to Modern Englishu(as inboot). Middle Englishuwas diphthongised in most environments tou, and this was followed by, and then Modern Englisha(as inmouse) in the eighteenth century. Beforelabial consonants, this shift did not occur, anduremains as insoupandroom(its Middle English spelling wasroum).This means that the vowel in the English worddatewas in Middle English pronounceda(similar to moderndart); the vowel infeetwase(similar to modernfate); the vowel inwipewasi(similar to modernweep); the vowel inbootwaso(similar to modernboat); and the vowel inhousewasu(similar to modernwhose).The effects of the shift were not entirely uniform, and differences in degree of vowel shifting can sometimes be detected in regional dialects both in written and in spoken English. InNorthern English, the longback vowelsremained unaffected, the longfront vowelshaving undergone an earlier shift.4InScotland,Scotsdiffered in its input to the Great Vowel Shift, the long vowelsi,eandashifted toei,iandeby theMiddle Scotsperiod,ohad shifted toinEarly Scotsanduremained unaffected.5editExceptionsNot all words underwent certain phases of the Great Vowel Shift.eain particular did not take the step toiin several words, such asgreat,break,steak,greaves,swear,andbear. The vowels mentioned in words like break or steak underwent the process of shortening, due to the plosives following the vowels. Obviously that happened before the great vowel shift took place. Swear and bear contain the soundrwhich was still pronouned unlike today. Their quality must have been like in modern Scottish or Irish English. This also affected and changed the vowel quality. As a consequence, it prevented the effects of the Great Vowel Shift. Other examples arefather, which failed to become/ea, andbroad, which failed to becomeo(except when used as a proper noun, as in Eli Broad). The wordroomretains its older medieval pronunciation asmis a labial consonant, but its spelling makes it appear as though it was originally pronounced witho. However, its Middle English spelling wasroum, and was only altered after the vowel shift had taken place.Shortening of long vowels at various stages produced further complications.eais again a good example, shortening commonly beforecoronal consonantssuch asdandth, thus:dead,head,threat,wealthetc. (This is known as thebred-bread merger.)oowas shortened fromutoin many cases beforek,dand less commonlyt, thusbook,foot,goodetc. Some cases occurred before the change ofto:blood,flood. Similar, yet older shortening occurred for some instances ofou:country,could.Note that someloanwords, such assoufflandUmlaut, have retained a spelling from their origin language that may seem similar to the previous examples; but, since they were not a part of English at the time of the Great Vowel Shift, they are not actually exceptions to the shift.Other languagesGermanandDutchalso experienced sound changes resembling the first stage of the Great Vowel Shift.元音大推移维基百科，自由的百科全书元音大推移（英文：Great Vowel Shift）是英语发展史上的一次主要的语音转变，开始于14世纪，大体完成于15世纪中期，由大都会和港口城市向乡村的扩散一直持续到16世纪。转变主要体现在英语长元音的变化上。最先开始对这一现象进行研究的是丹麦语言学家Otto Jespersen，“元音大推移”的说法就是由他提出的。影响元音大推移前后长元音音值的差异已成为英语史的断代标准，用以区分之前的中古英语和之后的现代英语。英语中的长元音，原本与大陆（欧洲大陆）发音相似，经历了大推移之后，两个高位长元音转变成复合元音，其余的五个长元音开口度缩小（高化），其中的一个还伴随有舌位的前移。15世纪中叶以降，随着活字印刷术在欧洲传播，各种文字类印刷品在英国逐渐普及，英语的拼写也随之固定，英语的语音转变受其影响趋于缓和。编辑详情下文逐条阐示主要几类元音转变的大致历程。除了有很多例外，还有一些并未全部些完成的情况指转变只发展到了中间的某一阶段。一些转变同时伴随有正字法的改革。 中古英语的/a/()首先是变成随后高化作、e，继而大部分转变成现代英语的e（如“make”中的“a”）。古英语的到了中古时期就转变成了，跟现代英语的双元音/e/没有对映关系。 中古英语的/先是高化作e随之继续高化成现代英语的i（如“beak”的元音）。在一些以复辅音开头词中，元音未完全高化成i而是作e（如“break”的元音）。 中古英语的/e/高化作现代英语的i（如“feet”的元音）。 中古英语的/i/先是复化成i，接着可能经历了一个过渡阶段的，最终转化成了现代英语的a（如“mice”中的“i”)。 中古英语的/首先是高化作o，19世纪时又发生复化，最终转变成了当今现代英语的o或（如“boat”的元音）。 中古英语的/o/高化成现代英语的u（如“boot”的元音）。 中古英语的/u/大多数情况下先复化作u，随后是，最终于17世纪变成现代英语的a（如“mouse”中的“ou